/Big Mouth/ I know Google-Fu
28/11/2006 | Filed under Discover > Big Mouth
Everyone loves a bit of banter, but when it starts to get hardcore it can grate. Backing up a point with Google is good, but is it really necessary to back it up with 434 links? Do you Google-Fu…?
I used to absolutely love arguing on the internet. The rules used to be simple enough: you would say something illinformed, I would cut you to pieces in a witty yet knowledgeable and humble style, someone else would come along and rip my post apart, and then we would all get increasingly abusive until someone mentioned Nazis and we all logged off. I could spend weeks doing that, and often did.
Now, though, Google has ruined everything. Here’s how online debates work now. The first poster spends 10 minutes Googling and submits 432 links that say British Gas causes climate change, that 9/11 was the work of a mysterious shadow government of leprechauns, that Elvis is a dominatrix in Dunfermline or that Paris Hilton isn’t a waste of oxygen and gravity. Enraged, I’ll go Googling myself, and I’ll respond with 433 links proving that the first poster’s proof is pants. 20 minutes later they’ll respond with 434 links proving that my links about their links are part of an international global conspiracy of which I’m clearly a member, which means I have to find 435 links proving that their links about my links about their links… you get the idea.
There are three problems with that. The first is that it’s really, brainnumbingly dull. The second is that it’s pointless, because each side simply takes a position and Googles for more ammunition that supports their point of view. And the third problem is that it’s not a debate or even an argument.
For me, arguing is about testing ideas, discovering their fl aws and hopefully, coming away with a better understanding of things. But today’s online arguing isn’t about that. It’s a public display not of debating skills or of critical thinking, but of Google-Fu. It’s bad enough when the subjects don’t really matter – Macs versus PCs, or Radiohead versus Muse, or PS3 versus Xbox, or Linux versus Windows, or any other ephemera – but you’re starting to see Google-Fu in serious debates, too.
In the aftermath of August’s terror scare the tinfoil-hat brigade used their Google-Fu to prove that the plot was fabricated, and they went on to show that the London tube bombings never happened, the World Trade Center was demolished by Bob the Builder and that actually, we’re all part of the Matrix and the world doesn’t exist at all. The fact that all of their claims were complete tosh didn’t occur to them; they were far too busy Googling to find another ten thousand links to sites proving that the Pentagon was hit by a magic sledge full of space pixies and didn’t pay any attention to other people’s posts.
So much for progress. The internet is the modern-day Library of Alexandria, a repository for all the world’s information, and thanks to Google it’s available to everyone. Faced with a library of all the world’s knowledge, then, do we read the books on its shelves? No. We’re too busy throwing them at each other.
Comments
zestypete / 28/11/2006 / 12:34 / http://nickandkeith.blogspot.com/
I think you'll find that, if you Google this article, it doesn't come up, which ipso facto means it has have never not happened.
Anastasia / 28/11/2006 / 16:23
I agree with you about arguing on the internet - it certainly gets the adrenaline pumping. Luckily, nobody has yet tried to google-fu me.
What do you mean, the Pentagon was hit by a sledge full of pixies? Everybody knows it was in fact demolished by a group of rampaging balls of green slime from the planet Odgibod, with help from some truly radical martians from the planet Pluto.
Aleksandersen / 28/11/2006 / 17:16 / http://bonaveo.net/
You definitely got a point here. But I do believe that you just have spent to many hours in the wrong forums/chat channels to have gotten this impression!
There are still thousands of decent forums where people still exercise discussion skills and not Google-Fu.
You need to find the niche forums to still experience this phenomena. Do not go to just any Linux forum, search the Web for a niche forum on Debian's something-something and make your pledge there instead. The more general forums are filled with <em>less interested</em> people, where in the niche forums you may still find a geek or two thousand that is actually interested in their niche topic of discussion.
Personally I use Goolge merely as a spell checker (when Firefox's lets me down) and I search the Web with more developed search engines. Such as the new <a href="http://ask.com/">Ask.com</a>; or <a href="http://msdewey.com/">Ms. Dewey</a> when I need a laugh.
Richard / 29/11/2006 / 01:32
Google will soon take ove the world.
Crystal / 29/11/2006 / 16:10 / http://www.thedarktree.com
I think I agree with Richard more than Aleksandersen... google will rule the world. I have used ask.com in the past and I haven't been able to find anything useful with it. I will give it another chance, however, as it may have improved since that time.
Denis Martindale / 02/12/2006 / 23:20 / http://merrychristmas.shows.it
Google-fu sounds Google-foolish and must be reserved to those with Broadband or unmetered dialup access. To argue sensibly is to gain some measure of respect yet the Internet's resources aren't perfect. Google searches can be refined by using lots of keywords or phrases within speechmarks and then repeating the searches to exclude irrelevant results. Doing so may improve the quality of results yet arguments aren't primarily keywords or text phrases which Altavista and Vivisimo search engines can find, too. Will we also see an extension of the Google search into the multisearchers like Dogpile and end up with a pile of puerile details just for the sake of argument? If so, I believe we will all lose the plot and confirm what some people will think of the Internet as being a waste of time. It's bad enough being bombarded with spam emails so why imitate their misbehaviour? All we'd end up with is extra useless webpages and images clogging up our PCS. Why spend hundreds of pounds to get everything for the Internet and then wander aimlessly? We get Broadband to speed things up so we have more time on our hands. Why waste that time?
Tracey / 04/12/2006 / 09:43
Great point! The beauty of the internet is the limitless availibility of information. It will be a sad day when we stop thinking for ourselves and just hurl "books" at each other
como / 12/03/2007 / 06:00 / http://www.comogroupap.com.au/seo-australia/
I do not agree with Third problem.
